


Target Practice

by Potkanka



Category: Tomb Raider (Video Game)
Genre: (maybe not Bernard I despise that guy), Basically everyone is there, F/M, and there are many others present who're not mentioned at all, birthday fic, most of them are just briefly mentioned though, original timeline, there is no fourth wall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 10:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9815093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potkanka/pseuds/Potkanka
Summary: Lara and Natla have an argument about weapons. Also it's Lara's birthday. And this is total crack.





	

Lara jumped two times to the left, not wasting any time to shoot another spray of bullets at Natla, who was flying around the vast cavernous room. The Atlantean queen swept away from the line of fire and repaid the archaeologist with her flaming ammo. One fireball struck true, hitting her leg.

“You are really bad at this,” Lara tutted.

“Shut up, I'm just warming up,” Natla grumbled.

“I've heard lava baths can help with that,” the lady chuckled, making the other woman growl in frustration.

“Very funny, I would love to see how _you_ would like it.”

“Stop daydreaming and concentrate or you'll die.”

The fight continued, metallic and fire projectiles whizzing through the air. The winged human was being assaulted mercilessly, yet still most of the bullets flew uselessly past their target.

“Are you kidding? Missing so much?” Lara shook her head.

A particularly well-aimed fireball hit the adventurer right in the head, yet she made use of her medi-pack to avoid the worst.

Natla snorted. “Fireballs are obviously the superior ammunition. Why would anyone want to use these metallic weapons instead? They are so... useless.”

Lara rolled her eyes. “Sounds like an excuse from someone who doesn't know how to use them. Did you ever even try?”

“I never had the need, having much superior technology,” Natla replied with forced calm and gritted teeth.

“You should try. You'd get the hang of it eventually, I'm sure. I can teach you,” Lara offered.

“Not interested,” Natla mumbled, trying to focus on her task and not on the other woman's talk.

The lead was raining up, the fire was raining down. The battle was intense, but the more time passed, the more obvious it was the archaeologist's life was nearing its end. There was nothing to heal the damage with anymore and the next fireball that hit would be the last.

Suddenly the adventurer stopped. Was it a secret tactic? What was she going to do? Did she know a way to-

Another fireball struck. The woman standing between the pillars collapsed to the ground, dead.

Natla snorted. “Well, that's the end. Thank god. Who's next?”

“Me!” Tony yelled, making grabby motions for the controller, which Natla happily handed over.

“What a cop out,” Lara snorted and sprawled back on the sofa, staring at the screen now sporting a passport offering saved positions, “you let yourself be killed.”

“You were distracting me,” Natla huffed.

“You were pissing her off so much she killed you at least in-game,” Fabio offered.

“No, no, you see,” Willard piped up, nuzzled up against Nessie, “it's really hard to fight against yourself, right, remember last year-”

“Yeah but wasn't your problem with killing your spider-self that you almost pissed yourself 'cause it looked _scary_? ” Kurtis snorted.

“That would be Dupont,” Werner corrected, “Dr. Willard is actually quite decent at playing.”

“Oh, right,” Kurtis snapped his fingers, much to the French archaeologist's indignant sputtering.

“Does the offer to learn using guns apply to anyone?” Boaz asked and moved her chair closer. “I have been quite curious about it lately...”

“Fuck no,” Kurtis grabbed his stomach, “you don't need even more ways to make holes in people.”

“Oh, I think it could be fun if we all went to try,” Lara smiled. “We could have a shooting contest, I'm sure Winston wouldn't mind to help out with targets.”

“Or as a target,” Father Patrick mumbled knowingly.

“Yes,” Lara grinned brightly, not denying anything.

Karel gave an indignant huff. “I am not interested in your mortal weapons.”

“Well it's my birthday and you all came willingly, so either do what I tell you or get lost and find something more interesting to do yourselves,” the archaeologist shrugged.

The  guests looked  around  at each other but no -o ne stood up to leave. There wasn't much fun to be had  ever since their timeline  stopped being the one the games followed. The reminder of the truth dropped their mood significantly, even Lara frowned unhappily at what she inadvertently brought up.  There was one thing they all shared and could bond over, despite their past. Those who survived the end of Angel of Darkness appeared especially desolate or angry.  Karel's disguise was slipping, his eyes turning black and his hair white.  The glass in Gunderson's hand cracked. A brass candelabra Kurtis was staring at was slowly twisting into an unrecognisable shape.  But there were also Cowboy's angry mutters, in between them clear the word “Anniversary”.

Luckily, the next moment a horrible burning smell assaulted their noses. Seth cursed and backed up several paces, holding his sensitive nose.

“Ahahahaha, sorry, no idea why that keeps happening!” Tony laughed without care, holding the smouldering remains of the controller, his hands on fire.

“For the ninth time, if I count correctly,” Marco commented. Luddick seemed rather sick, looking at the charred piece of plastic, shuffling further away from Eckhardt even if they were almost completely on the opposite sides of the room.

“No matter,” Lara exclaimed and stood up, actually happy for Tony's interference. “Zip, go order a new controller. Or twenty. The rest, let's go to the obstacle course. Target practice is waiting!”

There was some grumbling, but everyone eventually stood up and followed her out  of the room .  It was Lara ' s birthday after all.

“Oh, oh, we could paint silly faces on the targets!” Larson said as they were descending the stairs.

There was some eye-rolling until Yarofev  spoke up with a thoughtful nod. “Yes, there could even be speech bubbles, such as...”

“Mommy!” Verdilet snickered.

“Daddy!” Carvier added, affronted.

“I hate tombs!” Kid, Janice and Jean-Yves exclaimed at the same time.

Everyone stopped and threw each other calculating glances. Then the group of humans, demons, monsters and anything in between  broke into a sprint towards the training grounds.

 


End file.
